14 Facts About Miguel Iglesias

Miguel Iglesias Pino de Arce was born on 11 June 1830 in Cajamarca, Peru, and died on 7 November 1909 in Lima, Peru.

Miguel Iglesias was a Peruvian soldier, general, and politician who served as the 26th President of Peru from 1882 to 1885.

Miguel Iglesias was a descendant of a line of Catalans from the town of Solivella.

Miguel Iglesias's father left for Peru in the early 19th century to join three uncles on Iglesias's mother's side who had founded the Chota silver mine, near the town of Cajamarca, in the county of the same name, in northern Peru, in 1780.

Lorenzo Iglesias Espinach became both the heir of his uncles and sub-prefect of Cajamarca; he was a friend of Simon Bolivar, who stayed with him in Cajamarca and was one of the groups of dissident Spanish colonists who supported independence from Spain.

In 1820, Lorenzo Iglesias married Rosa Pino, and their son, Miguel, was born ten years later.

In 1874, Miguel Iglesias initiated a revolution against the government of President Manuel Pardo and proclaimed himself the political and military Chief of the North.

When war broke out in 1879 between a coalition of Peru allied with Bolivia and Chile, Miguel Iglesias commenced raising a new private militia.

Miguel Iglesias personally took charge of organizing the defence of the Peruvian capital city against the advancing Chileans in January 1881.

Miguel Iglesias found himself surrounded and outnumbered by 9000 Chilean troops and came under a withering barrage.

Miguel Iglesias achieved a victory over the Chileans at San Pablo, Cajamarca, on 13 July 1882, but soon afterward, a Chilean force reoccupied the region and carried out brutal reprisals.

On 23 October 1883, Miguel Iglesias signed the Treaty of Ancon on behalf of Peru, thereby ending the hostilities.

Miguel Iglesias took refuge on an Italian ship, and eventually reached his estate of Udima in Cajamarca.

In 1888 the ban against Miguel Iglesias was lifted, and he and his wife were able to return to Peru.